Rep. Wilson outraged by continued support of OCS at the expense of Alaskan families

It is time for action

Thursday, June 29, 2017, Juneau, Alaska – Representative Tammie Wilson (R- North Pole) is outraged by Governor Walker and Commissioner Davidson’s continued support and protection of the Office of Children Services despite its on-going troubling issues highlighted by the media within the past week. An article published June 23, 2017, in the Alaska Public Media summarizes the report by the states Ombudsman’s office “Ombudsman report shows failures at OCS.”

Investigation 1

“A father who lived out of state was trying to gain custody of his daughter.”

“The father called the caseworker more than 130 times to try to start a complicated interstate placement agreement.”

“The caseworker was alerted to the possible abuse by multiple people, including the girl’s teacher and her counselor, but it was several months before she investigated and removed the child from the home.”

“An 8-year-old girl was sexually abused by her foster father.”

“The foster father is currently awaiting trial for nine counts of sexual abuse of a minor.”

Investigation 2

“A baby was taken from her mother at birth about three years ago.”

“The mother told the caseworker to contact the child’s great-grandfather in Arizona so he could take custody of the girl. OCS is legally required to try to place foster children with relatives first.”

“The caseworker was asked 27 times to contact the great-grandfather but didn’t for more than two years.”

“She told the court twice that she had started the out-of-state placement process even though she hadn’t.”

Rep. Wilson says, “Here is another example of their incompetence. It is time for the Governor and the Commissioner to do their job and stop this outrageous behavior. How many more children will be sacrificed before there’s true reform?”

Since 2015, there have been 8 complaints against this worker and the ombudsman recommended that OCS review all of her cases; “Loyalty to one’s staff is admirable but the ombudsman wonders what it takes for OCS to determine if these problem cases are an anomaly or the tip of the iceberg and to ask Quality Assurance to review her work. But OCS has rejected that option.”

“The findings of the Ombudsman’s reports suggest that OCS committed perjury, gross negligence, incompetence, cover up and details the outright failure of OCS leadership to acknowledge, much less address these egregious findings in any meaningful way,” says Wilson.